Tuesday, August 11, 2026: ICE arrested Maine nurse at Portland jetport; Trump's childhood vaccine order
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19 segmentsFrom Maine Public Radio and Mainepublic.org, I'm Nicole Ogrisco with the news on this day in Maine, Tuesday, August 11th, 2026. Governor Janet Mills says Maine's vaccine guidance remains unchanged following President Donald Trump's executive order on childhood vaccine recommendations. More than half a dozen health organizations in Maine are also criticizing Trump's action, saying his revisions are based on politics, not science, and make children less safe. Patty White reports. Trump's order calls for dropping universal recommendations for some vaccines and for separating the combined measles, mumps, Rubella vaccine into single shots. Maine Medical Association president, Dr. James Jarvis, says the changes defy extensive evidence that supports the safety of vaccines and don't make fiscal or practical sense. You're now talking about, you know, double, tripling or quadrupling the number of office visits in order for us to get vaccines. That's not going to happen. And all that means is that the child's going to be more susceptible to these very preventable and deadly diseases. The order also directs the Department of Justice to pursue legal action against states, including Maine, that don't allow philosophical exemptions for childhood vaccines. Jarvis says measles cases nationwide have reached a 35-year high, which he attributes to vaccine hesitancy. For Maine Public Radio News, I'm Patty White. The Maine health nurse briefly detained by ICE two weeks ago was arrested at the Portland Jetport, not Logan Airport, as originally stated by her union. Lawyers say it's the first ICE arrest they're aware of at the jet port. Ari Snyder has more. According to a Department of Homeland Security document, two ICE officers were conducting, quote, targeted surveillance at the jet port by the security checkpoint, where they identified Devorah Capitia with assistance from the TSA. then took her into custody and drove her to Massachusetts. Carrie Doyle, one of Capitia's attorneys, says it's the first ICE arrest at the jet port that she's aware of, but that it fits with a recent pattern of airport detentions. I don't really understand on what basis they're doing this, and to what end they're doing this other than to... scare people away from flying. Kapisha, who is seeking asylum from Zambia, has since been released, but Doyle says ICE is still trying to deport her. A DHS spokesperson said in a written statement that information sharing between ICE and the TSA is essential to, quote, keep our skies in our country safe. For Maine Public Radio News, I'm Ari Snyder. Nearly 100 protesters targeted Senator Susan Collins' office on Main Street in Biddeford today to call her out for voting in support of a $70 billion package to fund ICE and the Border Patrol this past spring.
Fernando McLaughlin, a Columbia native, told the crowd that money could be used to provide food, education, and health care instead of funding the agency involved in the fatal shooting of Yelan Sebastian Duran Guerrero last month. We want to live without fear of being separated by detention or kill at the hands of federal agents. Every morning, that's my biggest fear. Senator Susan Collins, today I'm not just asking as an activist. I'm asking as a mother and as a resident of Maine who still loves and believes in Maine as my home. The Maine People's Alliance organized protests across the state during the August recess of the U.S. Congress. And Maine Democratic Congresswoman Shelley Pingree will host a congressional hearing in Biddeford next week about the immigration and customs enforcement shooting that killed Yohan Sebastian Duran Guerrero. Pingree says the hearing will examine the agency's use of force and the impacts of ICE operations on Maine. The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee will attend the hearing along with other Democrats. The mayor of Biddeford, the attorney representing Duran Guerrero's family, and others from the immigrant community are expected to testify. The hearing is scheduled for Monday, August 17th at 11 a.m. at Biddeford High School. ACLU chapters from Maine and several other New England states are asking a federal court to block President Donald Trump's latest executive order to change birthright citizenship in the U.S. Kevin Miller has more. In June, U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution grants citizenship to nearly all babies born on U.S. soil. On deterred, Trump issued a new executive order last week, seeking to create additional exceptions to that citizenship guarantee. But Carol Garvin, legal director at ACLU of Maine, says the latest proposed carve-outs are still unconstitutional. It is extremely unusual that the president would try to reinvent or revise the 14th Amendment in any way. And I think it's even more unusual that just after getting a very clear ruling from the Supreme Court, that Trump would continue to resist the basic principles of birthright citizenship that are enshrined in the 14th Amendment. On Tuesday, ACLU state chapters from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, and three other legal groups, asked the same federal court in New Hampshire that handled the first case to prevent the Trump administration from enforcing the new executive order. For Maine Public Radio News, I'm Kevin Miller. The Augusta City Council has imposed a 180-day moratorium on new syringe service programs. It comes in response to some residents' concerns about syringe waste. But Reagan-La Rochelle, the board chair of the Maine Recovery Access Project, says their program collects more syringes than it distributes, keeping 16,000 used syringes out of the community annually. Restricting these programs does not address syringe litter.
it risks reducing one of the very tools that helps prevent it. Two syringe service programs can continue to operate in Augusta. Advocates say they are an evidence-based harm reduction tool that prevents diseases such as HIV and hepatitis. They also connect people with substance use disorder to resources for help. Home sales in Maine were up nearly 8% in July compared to the previous year. The Maine Association of Realtors says there were roughly 6,200 homes on the market last month, a seven-year high. Home prices rose about 2% in July, but the median sales price of $427,000 was lower than last months, which the association says is a promising sign for buyers. The market in Maine was busier in July compared to the rest of the country. where home sales were up an average of less than 1%. And that's today's main news. For more stories, visit mainpublic.org. Coming up on Maine calling at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning, what to see in the night sky. I'm Nicole Ogrisco. Thanks for listening.